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Following tender offer, STC will hold just over half of Kuwaiti company once transaction is completed.
Saudi Telecom Company (STC) on Monday announced that following its tender offer for Viva it will own 51.8% of the Kuwaiti mobile operator.
The Saudi incumbent announced its aim to acquire the 74% of Viva that it did not already own late last year. It carried out a tender offer at 1 Kuwaiti dinar (€3) per share, but when the offer closed on Sunday it had only secured 25.8% of the telco’s shares to add to the 26% it already held.
There was some controversy over the price of the offer.
According to Saudi Telecom, a financial advisor appointed by Viva studied the offer and ruled the KWD1-per-share price tag to be fair. However, Viva’s board disagreed.
Nonetheless, Saudi Telecom declined to increase the offer price.
In a stock exchange statement on Monday, Saudi Telecom said its still requires regulatory clearance to complete the deal.
"STC will seek approval from the relevant authorities in Kuwait in order to execute the transaction in compliance with applicable rules and procedures, including the final count of the shares, transfer of funds and transfer of ownership," it said.
It did not comment on the remaining 48.2% of Viva’s shares it failed to get its hands on.
